When cockpits are invaded by continuous, dense, blinding smoke that turn airplanes into unguided missiles, the results are well known to be catastrophic and fatal for passengers and crew. None create an unsafe condition faster than a pilot blinded by continuous, opaque smoke. And none occur as frequently as smoke in the cockpit. According to the Air Line Pilots Association, airliners make an unscheduled or emergency landing due to smoke in the cockpit on an average of once per day.
What is true for a cockpit is equally true for any operator station where the operator's ability to see the instrument panel when smoke invades the operator's station depends on the safe operation or orderly shutdown of critical processes, such as occur in a nuclear power station, submarine and similar operator stations.
The present invention is related to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,832,287; 5,318,250; 5,202,796; 5,947,415; and 6,082,673.
Prior art emergency vision assurance systems use inflatable enclosures with viewing panels at opposite ends of the enclosures to gap the distance between the pilot's face mask and the windshield or the instrument panel to allow the pilot access to visual information to help him operate an aircraft in the event of smoke in the cockpit.